Page 16 of Where There's Smoke…
“Ah, so I impressed you, huh?” I smirk, and she nods. “Well, baby, there’s plenty more that I can show you if you’re down.”
“I am,” she smiles softly. She wraps her arms around me and snuggles against my chest. I can hear her yawn. “Not today, though. You wore me out, bae.”
Bae.
That small endearment made my heart almost get up and run away. She didn’t understand how she had affected me, or maybe she did. Either way, it made me want to be the best partner I could for her. I would give her every experience she never had. I would make love to her in ways that she never thought she’d experience. To me, her happiness was all that mattered.
I could hear her snoring lightly, and let her rest while I cleaned up. So, I slowly climbed out of the bed and pulled the comforter off to throw in the washer. After that, I got a towel I’d wet with warm water and gently cleaned her up the best I could. She would have to take a bath once she woke up.
I placed a large throw blanket over her and headed to the bathroom. After a quick shower, I put back on my clothes and exited the room. I put up all of the lunch we didn’t eat. We could eat those once she woke up.
When that was all cleaned up, I headed back downstairs to see that the bakery was empty aside from the few workers. I told them that Angel was giving them the rest of the day off, and they didn’t hesitate to shut everything down. Thirty minutes later, they waved bye asI locked up the shop. I ensured everything was in order and the alarm was set before heading back upstairs.
By this time, Angel was up and in the shower. I waited for her to come out, and we ate as we watched one of her favorite shows. The night ended with us saying goodbye and promising to see each other the next day. I would’ve stayed over had I not left Nori home alone all day.
“I miss you already,” she whines as she hugs me around the waist. I chuckle, lifting her chin so she can look up at me. “You sure you can’t stay?”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sweets,” I assure her. She pouts, so I kiss her once. “Stop all that poutin’, mamas. You know you can just come home with me, right?”
“Yes, but you live so far away,” she groans. “I’d have to get up too damn early to be back in time to open the bakery.”
“Ugh, you make me want to give you everything,” I sigh. “Let me go get Nori and then we’ll come back here, okay?”
“But that’s like a 40-minute round trip,” she squeaks out. I can’t help but laugh as I shake my head. No matter how selfish she wanted to be, she couldn’t help but counter it by being equally caring.
“I don’t know what imma do with you, Sweets,” I sigh. I kiss her once more before rubbing my thumb over her cheek. We stand there for what feels like forever, staring into each other’s eyes. I knew that if I didn’t leave soon, Nori would be alone tonight, and I couldn’t have that. “Okay, Angel baby. I really have to go.”
“Okay, okay,” she finally says. She hugs me tighter and sighs. “Drive safe and text me when you make it, alright?”
“Okay, love,” I nod. “Goodnight.”
We exchange kisses a few more times before I finally make it out of the door. She waves at me until I tell her to go inside. She giggles and blows me a kiss before closing the door. I put on my seatbelt as I smile a goofy ass smile to myself in the mirror. Damn, this woman had me sprung.
6
Where There’s Fundraisers...
Phoenix“Phee”Preston-June 7th, 2025
Today was the day of the annual Tucker Firefighters Fundraiser Festival. Yeah, it was a mouthful, but everyone was so used to it that we didn’t want to change it. It’s been about fifteen years since it started, and it was one of the most anticipated events in our small town.
Usually taking place on the first weekend of June, this event signified the end of the school year for kids, teens, and college students and was the first event to kick off the summer. There were carnival games and rides available, and many stalls set up along the main street that featured various foods and handmade goods from the different businesses in town. Only about 5,000 people lived here, but it felt like so much more when everyone came out tocelebrate.
As far as the fundraising went, my fellow firefighters and I were in charge of managing the games and hosting the talent show and contests we also had throughout the day, along with volunteers, of course. All proceeds from those events would be put towards helping to fund the local primary and high schools. They were underfunded, as expected from schools in a small town, but with the money we raised, we could help get the most up-to-date textbooks and other supplies and learning materials the students would need.
With the money we made last year, we finally got updated computers for the high school, and it felt like such an accomplishment. Mainly because the old computers had been there since I was a student.
I placed two boxes of cups on the table for the ladies running the snowball stand before pulling out a towel from my back pocket to wipe the sweat from my face. It was in the mid-80s already, and it was barely 9 a.m. I knew that by the time noon rolled around, it would be in the 90s. Luckily, we had plenty of activities to keep everyone cool, including a few inflatable waterslides, free hand fans, and unlimited snowballs.
I’m so glad I threw on a pair of shorts this morning instead of wearing jeans like I originally wanted. Since I had to wear my Tucker Fire Station t-shirt, I wanted to coordinate it with some black jeans, but as soon as I stepped outside and realized how hot it was, I immediately turned around and threw on some black Nike shorts instead.
“Damn sis, you look tired already,” I hear from behind me. I turn around to see Raven standing there with her husband and kids. They run over to me and I pull them in for hugs. They giggle, and I swear, they’re the cutest 5-year-olds I’ve ever seen.
“Hey, my loves,” I greet as I kiss them each against the forehead.
“Tee Phee, can we have a snowball?” Lovey asks, and I nod with a smile.
“Of course you can, cutie,” I reply. They busy themselves ordering snowballs as I turn to finally greet my sister and her husband. “Hey, I’m so glad y’all could make it.”
